Work Text:
Mike was the first one to wake up that day. It shouldn't have surprised him. When he had gone to bed the night before, he had popped his head into Will's little studio in their home and Will had been working when he said good night. The studio had once been a bedroom, but Mike and Will had had it renovated into an art studio for Will. If you didn't know you were in someone's home while in Will's studio, you'd get a reality check once you left it; the room was designed to look like a typical art studio and Will often coached students in his studio when he gave private lessons.
Both men had their private spaces where they worked. While Will had his studio, Mike had his office where he did all of his writing. Whenever Will was working in his studio, Mike could usually be found in his office, typing away at his latest novel. It had taken some time for Mike's writing career to take off; he was one of the lucky authors who now had no need to work a "regular" job in order to provide for him and Will. Now that he'd had a few bestsellers, Mike was able to devote his working hours to writing and he got to be home a lot more with Will.
Mike was especially grateful to have this day at home with Will. It was his and Will's wedding anniversary and he looked forward to spending all day inside just being with Will. They had both been working on various projects for the past few months and had usually been too tired to do much of anything in the evenings, though they had agreed they would take their anniversary off from work.
Mike turned over and saw that Will was still fast asleep on his side of the bed. Mike grinned to himself and leaned over to give Will a kiss on the forehead.
"Sleep as long as you want, baby," Mike whispered before he got out of bed and stretched. Of the two of them, Mike was usually the early riser, while Will slept late.
Mike quietly crept out of the bedroom and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, he quickly started up the coffee maker Joyce and Jim had gotten them for Christmas the year before and he poured himself a steaming mug. Mike added some cream and sugar to his coffee before he sat down at his laptop on the kitchen counter.
"Would you like some coffee with that cream and sugar, babe?" Mike heard Will say in his head. Mike snorted to himself.
"Yeah, yeah," Mike said. "And you can have that bitter shit, babe."
Mike scrolled absently through his email. Most of his emails were junk, though he did have some emails from his publicist about his upcoming book tour happening the following month. He briefly glanced at those emails, not taking much in, before the FaceTime notification started ringing on his MacBook.
Mike smiled when he saw "Lucas Sinclair wants to FaceTime" pop up in his window. He clicked the accept button and waited for the call to load. Lucas and Max's faces appeared a few seconds later.
"Hey Mike!" Lucas exclaimed.
"Where's your more attractive better half?" Max asked with a smirk.
"He is sleeping in on this fine morning," Mike said with a grin as he flipped off Max. "I'm gonna let him sleep for a while. Might start cooking in a little bit and see if that pulls him from his slumber. Also got a mimosa in the fridge for him to enjoy with breakfast, since they’re his favorite"
"Well, aren't you the romantic one?" Max asked.
"Of course I am, Max! Have you read my books?"
"Nah, I'm gonna wait for the movies."
Mike pretended to grab his chest in shock.
"Max! I'm offended! How dare you wait for movies that will change the brilliance of my works!"
Lucas was laughing at Max and Mike's banter. When the two of them got going, Lucas would just watch his wife and best friend continuously roast each other and laugh, not daring to take a side because he knew Mike and Max would then team up and start roasting him.
"Well, you gotta make sure to call us back later when Will wakes up. It's kinda weird to wish just one of you a happy anniversary," said Max.
"Yeah, but I appreciate it all the same," Mike said. "Besides, it's thanks to you, Lucas, that I'm even here."
"Oh please, Mike," Lucas said, smiling and fondly rolling his eyes. "I didn't do anything."
"You did push me to stop being a coward."
"Mike, you're not a coward," Lucas said firmly. "You were never a coward."
"But you did help me learn to accept myself," Mike said. "Remember?"
"Yeah," Lucas said. "I remember."
Mike watched as Will was led away by the girl who had called him "Art Boy." Mike had had to stop himself from lashing out at the girl; he didn't want to cause a scene with Will standing right next to him, so he had settled instead for simply glaring at the girl as she asked Will to dance. Will had hesitated slightly, looking at Mike as if Mike had an answer for him. Mike had simply nodded at Will in what he hoped was an encouraging way before Will agreed to go dance with the girl.
Lucas and Max were out dancing together and seemed to be having the time of their lives. Dustin had been trying to ask out some girls to dance, only to be shot down. Mike felt sorry for Dustin; if anyone deserved to dance with someone here, it was Dustin. Luckily, Mike saw Nancy approach Dustin and ask him to dance. Dustin and Nancy were dancing next to the girls who had rejected Dustin, all of whom had looks of jealousy as they saw Dustin dance with THE Nancy Wheeler.
Mike smiled to himself as he watched his friends dance. El had even managed to find a boy to dance with and she looked rather enamored by the whole thing. Mike glanced over at Will and the girl he was dancing with and he felt something unpleasant in his stomach.
Will was smiling and seemed to be enjoying himself. But that wasn't what was bothering Mike. Mike didn't like that it was him who was making Will look so happy. Mike realized he was jealous of the girl and wanted to be in her place.
What the fuck? Mike thought. Where did that come from?
Mike shook his head and tried to watch his other friends or anyone else who was dancing. But Will and the girl were like a magnet. They kept drawing his attention and Mike felt himself get more and more agitated the more he watched them. He started fidgeting in his seat, one of his hands curling into a fist. Mike squeezed his fist with his other hand as he tried to calm himself down, but he just found himself getting more and more angry. He wanted to explode with what he was feeling right now.
Finally, the slow song that had been playing stopped and a fast song had started. The students who were dancing started to form one big dancing group and Mike quickly lost sight of Will and the girl. Mike felt his heart calm down now, but he still felt anxious and wanted to get out of there.
Just then, Lucas and Max joined Mike at the table. Both of them were blushing slightly and they were holding hands. They sat down next to Mike and both took a drink of the punch they had left on the table before dancing.
"Hey, Mike, how's it going?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah, you see any cute girls you wanna dance with yet?" Max asked in a teasing tone.
"No," Mike said a little harshly. He instantly regretted his tone and cleared his throat, trying to sound normal. "I'm not really having a good time. I think I'm gonna head home."
"Mike, are you okay?" Lucas asked, frowning.
"I'm fine. I just don't feel very good. And I don't wanna ruin everyone's good time."
"Mike, you're not ruining it," Lucas said. "You can come dance with The Party and we can dance as a group."
Mike shook his head.
"I appreciate that, Lucas, but no thanks. I'm gonna get out of here. Let Will, Dustin and El know for me, okay?"
"Are you sure you're okay, Wheeler?" Max asked. "You don't look very good. You look kinda pale, actually."
"I'll be okay," Mike said. "I'm just tired. I'll see you guys later, okay?"
Lucas and Max nodded as Mike walked away from the table and through the rest of the gym. He almost looked like he was on autopilot as he snaked his way through the gym and to the doors.
"What was that all about?" Max asked once they watched Mike disappear into the crowd.
"I don't know," Lucas said quietly, though his mind was going about a thousand miles an hour as he thought about Mike's behavior. "Something's going on with him, but I can't really figure out what."
Lucas and Max were distracted by the arrival of the rest of their friends, who sat down with them at the table.
"Where's Mike?" Will asked.
"He probably drank too much punch," El said in a teasing tone. "That boy has the smallest bladder, I swear."
"Gee, need to know only, El," said Dustin.
"That's not a sex joke, Dustin, geez!" El retorted. "Besides, Mike and I broke up forever ago. Maybe something's changed."
"He went home sick," Lucas said, ignoring his friends' bickering.
Dustin and El both frowned.
"Sick?" Dustin asked. "Did he throw up or something?"
Lucas shook his head. "No, he just said he wasn't feeling well so he went home."
"I hope he's okay," said El. "It's not like Mike to just leave like that."
Lucas nodded at El before he turned to Will, who looked somewhat shell shocked that Mike had abruptly left. He had sat down and was staring off into space. Lucas bent down to talk to Will so none of the others could hear him.
"I'm sure he's okay, Will," Lucas said gently.
Will looked up at Lucas and nodded slightly.
"I hope so," he said quietly.
"I can go check on him after the dance," Lucas said. "I'm a little worried about him, too."
Will nodded vigorously at Lucas, who smiled at Will.
"I'll call you after I see him, okay?"
Lucas knocked on the front door of the Wheeler's house. It had taken some persuasion on his part to convince his parents to let him out to go see Mike. But once he had explained Mike's abrupt departure from the dance, his mother had relented and agreed to let him go check on Mike, provided that Lucas ask Mrs. Wheeler to call his mother to let her know he had arrived safely.
A few seconds later, the door opened and Nancy peeked out, looking surprised to see Lucas.
"Hey, Lucas, what's up?"
"I'm here to see Mike," Lucas said. "Is he okay?"
"I thought he was with all of you guys," Nancy said, frowning.
Lucas shook his head.
"He left the dance a while ago and said he was coming home. We were gonna tell you, but we couldn't find you after you and Dustin danced."
"Yeah, Jonathan and I were up front. He needed some help putting his camera equipment away and then he and Will gave me a ride home after the dance. I'm surprised Will didn't say anything."
"He knew that I was coming over here to check on Mike," Lucas said. "He probably didn't want you to worry about Mike. Mike did say he was coming straight home."
"I haven't seen him yet," Nancy said, motioning for Lucas to come into the house. Lucas followed Nancy inside and she led him to the kitchen.
"I bet he's in the basement," Lucas said. "I'll go down there and check. If I don't come back up in a minute or so, you'll know I've found him."
"Did he say what was going on?" Nancy asked.
"He just said he wasn't feeling well. It seemed like there was something else going on, but he didn't say anything. I'll try and see if I can get him to tell me what's up."
Nancy nodded at him.
"Thanks, Lucas," she said. "You know, you've always been my brother's favorite friend."
"Nice try, Nancy," Lucas said, grinning. "Dustin already told us that you told him that when you were dancing with him."
"Damn, that boy can't keep a secret for five minutes, can he?"
Lucas laughed as he opened the basement door. Before he headed downstairs, he turned to Nancy again.
"Oh, can you have your Mom call my Mom and let her know that I'm her?. Mom said the only way I could come over was if your Mom called when I got here."
"Mom's asleep already, but I got you covered, Lucas," Nancy said. "I can do a good impersonation of my Mom's voice."
Lucas grinned and nodded at Nancy before he made his way down to the basement. It felt odd doing this by himself. He usually had Dustin and the girls with him when going down these stairs. Will always arrived first to their campaigns while Lucas would come over with the others.
At the bottom of the stairs, Lucas spotted Mike right away. Mike was fast asleep on the sofa, a half drank mug of what Lucas guessed was tea on the coffee table beside him. Lucas crept over to Mike and cleared his throat loudly.
Mike woke with a start. He sat up, glancing around for the source of the noise before his eyes landed on Lucas.
"Oh, Lucas, hey," Mike said, yawning. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he sat up and made room for Lucas to sit down.
"I'm just checking on you, Mike," Lucas said as he sat down. "You didn't look so good at the dance and I'm worried about you. Actually, all of us are."
Mike groaned.
"I guess Will knows I left?" he said.
"He does, but he doesn't know why. None of us know why. And we're all worried about you, Mike. What's going on?"
Mike sighed to himself. He leaned forward and took a sip of the tea on the coffee table and set it back down.
"It doesn't matter," Mike said.
"Mike, you know you don't have to hide your feelings from us," Lucas said, trying his best to sound patient. "You're allowed to feel feelings, even if they're negative. And you can talk to me, Mike. I'm your friend. I want to help you with whatever is going on."
Mike sighed again and he simply stared off into space for several minutes as he contemplated what Lucas had told him. Finally he turned to Lucas, tears in his eyes.
"I thought I could make it work, Lucas," he said in a shaky voice.
"What?" Lucas asked, frowning.
"Being with El," Mike said. "I thought that if I found the right girl and got into a relationship with her, then I could...I could be normal."
Lucas didn't say anything. Instead, he nodded at Mike, inviting him to continue. It seemed like Mike had a lot to say and needed to say it without interruption.
"But we all know how well that worked out," Mike said with a bitter laugh. "El realized she was better off without me and I realized that I'm just a pathetic loser who needs to get over himself.
"Mike, you're not pathetic and you're not a loser," Lucas said in a gentle voice.
"But I am, Lucas, I am! If I had made it work with El, then maybe I couldn't have gotten over myself."
"What does that mean? Gotten over yourself?"
Mike closed his eyes and shook his head violently.
"Is it about Will?" Lucas asked.
Mike's eyes shot open and he turned to Lucas. He was looking at Lucas as if he had seen a ghost.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike said in a scared voice. "Why would it be about Will?"
Lucas took a deep breath before he responded. He reached over and placed a hand on top of Mike's. Mike hadn't even noticed that he was shaking until he stopped at Lucas' touch.
"Mike," Lucas said as gently as possible. "It's okay."
At that, Mike burst into tears. Lucas scooted closer to Mike and wrapped his arms around Mike in a hug and Mike practically melted into his embrace. Mike was clinging onto Lucas as if Lucas was the only thing keeping him alive and Lucas tried to whisper words of comfort while Mike sobbed. It took several minutes before Mike calmed down, but he finally did and he seemed exhausted as he leaned out of Lucas' embrace.
"Sorry," Mike said sheepishly.
"It's okay, Mike."
"I guess you know, huh?"
"Know what?"
"That I'm in love with Will," Mike said.
Lucas looked at Mike and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I've had a feeling for a while."
Mike chuckled weakly. "Damn. I thought I was being subtle."
"Neither of you guys are subtle."
"Neither of us?" asked Mike, frowning.
"Come on, Mike," Lucas said. "Surely you know that Will feels the same way as you."
Mike scoffed.
"Yeah right," Mike said dismissively. "There's no way Will could ever love me. Hell, it's not possible to love me."
"Mike, why would you say that?"
"The only way anyone could ever love me is because they need me," Mike said. "Nobody needs me in their life, so I can't be loved."
"Mike, listen to me. Will loves you. He's always loved you."
"What makes you think so?"
"Because he looks at you the same way you look at him."
Mike looked slightly taken aback at that comment.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you both look at each other like you're each other's whole worlds," Lucas said. "It's always been the two of you. Hell, even when you were dating El, Will was always your wingman whenever you and she got into fights. You always leaned on him for support way more than the rest of us.
"Besides, it's always been the two of you then the rest of us in The Party," Lucas said. "You two were each other's first friends. The rest of us came along eventually, but it was always you two as the original members of our Party. And you two have always been the closest out of us. You treat Will differently, Mike. I've never doubted that you care about the rest of us, but you love Will, Mike, and he loves you. He needs you, Mike, just as much as you need him."
"Why would he need me?" Mike said.
"Because he's happy as long as you're in his life, Mike," Lucas said. "No matter if that's as friends or something else, Will is gonna be happy as long as you're part of his life. You make him feel better about everything, Mike. That much is clear."
"Damn," Mike said. "When did you become the expert on love?"
"By being with Max as long as I have," Lucas said with a chuckle. "She and I have a bet going on which one of you guys will admit your feelings first."
"Lucas!" Mike exclaimed. "You're betting on my love life?"
"Course I am, but I'm not about to tell you which way I betted."
"Well, if you betted on me, you'd probably lose."
"Have you told anyone else? About how you feel, I mean?"
"No way," Mike said, shaking his head. "You're the first one who knows that I'm....gay. Wow. That's the first time I've ever actually said those words out loud."
"How does it feel?"
"It feels good. Like I've gotten something off my chest that's been there for a long time."
"Well you know I'm always gonna be your friend, right? I'll always have your back, Mike. And so will everyone else in The Party. Whether you decide to tell Will or not, we'll all support you."
"I know," Mike said, nodding. "Thank you, Lucas."
"But I do think you should tell him, Mike. He deserves to know. And you two deserve each other."
"I don't know," Mike said, sounding nervous now. "I think I need to come out first. I don't wanna drop it on him all at once, you know? It might be too much. But I do wanna come out to you all. You guys are my best friends and you all deserve to know."
"Don't feel obligated to come out to all of us, Mike," Lucas said.
Mike nodded.
"I know. I want to, Lucas. Telling someone has made it easier. I want to tell Nancy first, though, if that's okay."
"Of course it is, Mike. It's your coming out. You come out on your terms." Mike nodded again. "And I'm gonna be with you the whole time, okay? If you want me to be."
"Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks, Lucas."
"What are friends for?"
"You did me a huge favor that night, Lucas," Mike said. "I came out to Nancy that night and she was amazing. Then you were there when I came out to everyone and later on when I told Will how I felt. I'm always gonna be grateful to you for that, Lucas."
Lucas chuckled slightly while Max grinned.
"You say the same thing every year on your anniversary, Mike, but it is nice to hear your gratitude," Lucas said.
"Well, I'm grateful too," said a voice behind Mike.
Mike whipped around and saw Will walking into the kitchen, his robe covering his pajamas. Will gave Mike a kiss on the cheek before he sat down on Mike's lap.
"Hey Will, happy anniversary to you and Mike!" Max exclaimed. "He had better gotten you something amazing!"
"Well, he let me sleep in, so he's already in my good book," Will said. "Though he did wake me up by reliving the story of his coming out to Lucas."
Mike groaned slightly and buried his face in Will's shoulder while Lucas and Max howled with laughter.
"Only joking, babe," Will said. "Besides, I love hearing that story."
"Yeah it never gets old hearing Mike say thank you over and over," Lucas said. "It reminds me that he does, in fact, have manners."
"And besides, you two are the cutest couple ever, so it's nice to hear that my husband had a hand in it!" Max exclaimed, giving Lucas a kiss on the cheek.
"Anyway, we'll let you guys go," Lucas said. "I'm sure you guys have a hugely romantic day planned ahead."
"We'll talk to you guys later," Will said.
"Happy Anniversary!" Max exclaimed.
"Yeah, Happy Anniversary!" said Lucas.
"Thanks guys," Mike said. "And Lucas, in all seriousness: thank you again."
"You're welcome, Mike. Now go be with your man!"
"We love you guys!" Will said as the FaceTime call ended and the screen went back to Mike's desktop. Will turned to his husband.
"Hi," Will said happily.
"Hi," Mike said, smiling widely at Will.
"Happy Anniversary!" Will said as he leaned forward and hugged Mike.
"Happy Anniversary, baby," Mike replied as he hugged Will tightly.
They held each other for several moments before they broke apart. The two of them stared at each other, huge grins on their faces as they took each other in. Finally, Mike leaned forward and pressed his lips to Will's.
The kiss was just as magical as their kisses always were. There weren't fireworks exploding around them, but there might as well have been with how much love was soaring between the two of them. Every happy feeling and happy memory seemed to be coursing through their bodies as they kissed and both Mike and Will knew this was always meant to be: the two of them. Mike and Will. Will and Mike. Together forever.
"I love you," Mike said when he broke the kiss.
"I know," Will said with a smirk. Mike giggled. "I love you, too."